ConocoPhillips says it has mobilized numerous resources to respond to a natural gas release at the CD1 pad at its Alpine Central Facility. There is no interruption of natural gas being supplied to the Native community of Nuiqsut, population 500, “and we do not anticipate the need for a relocation of Nuiqsut residents based on current data,” the company said.
Ongoing air monitoring is in place both at the facility and in Nuiqsut, the company said. A third party contracted by ConocoPhillips has been collecting monthly air samples in the Nuiqsut community since 2014; the most recent results obtained have not shown anything outside normal conditions. No natural gas has been detected outside of the CD1 area. ConocoPhillips has taken the additional step to install more continuous air monitors in Nuiqsut, including daily sampling of volatile organic compounds.
Essential personnel remain on-site, supported by subject matter experts, and the company said it is in regular contact with regulatory agencies and community leaders. “Our primary focus is protecting our workforce and the community,” ConocoPhillips said Friday.
The Colville River Unit, also known as Alpine, is located in the Colville River Delta on Alaska’s western North Slope, 34 miles west of the Kuparuk River Field and eight miles north of the Inupiat village of Nuiqsut. Kuparuk is one of the largest conventional onshore oil fields developed in North America in the past 25 years. Alpine is considered a model for future oil developments as directional drilling and other innovations minimize its environmental footprint. In 2020, net crude oil production was 25,000 of oil equivalent per day.
PRAY EVERYONE IS SAFE AND CONOCO PHILLIPS WOULD BE MORE CAREFUL IN THE FUTURE WITH THESE DANGEROUS LEAKS.
Why do you jump to the conclusion it’s a leak caused by ConocoPhillips? The article has no mention of what caused the leak.
Hope you didn’t leave your stove on. Hope you changed the belt on your dryer like you were supposed to and your house doesn’t burn down. Conoco Phillips is a good company enabling Alaskas’s bloated governments. They will fix the leak and do right by anyone affected.
Ok Will, shut down all natural gas then what do the Nuiqsut people do? How do they heat their homes and fuel their stoves? Solar panels? Windmills? A little tough when its dark 24/7 with no wind.
Dark 24- in Nuiqsut?
You’ve never been there, that shows.
There’s at least 11 hours of daylight in Nuiqsut today.
New here, Jim?
Quit being a knuckle head “Real Alaskan.” Jim’s point is what happens in December.
Everyone is safe because it was a one time leak, nothing outside normal conditions. They should be commended for being transparent and admitting to the leak. We need more companies like C-P and more oil fields like Kuparuk for our survival.
Sounds like an underground blowout. So, they will need to identify the source (probably difficult with closely-spaced wells), and then mobilize equipment and materials to dynamically kill the well. Rest assured that scores of experts are working the problem, and will solve it. This is a rare but not unprecedented event, and it’s solvable with the right minds and materials.
No one wants this kind of issue less than Conoco and no one is better able to handle this kind of problem than Conoco Phillips as they field the experts and crews needed to address it.
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